


Let Me Be Yours

by wildeisms



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Aftercare, Consensual Possession, Established Relationship, Explicit Consent, Ghost David "Dave" Katz, Ghost Sex, Gratuitous References to Queer Literary Figures, Idiots in Love, M/M, Masturbation in Shower, Minor References to Klaus's Past (Sex and Drugs Related), Porn with Feelings, Possession, Possession Negotiation, Shower Sex, TUAFandomBang2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:40:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28394031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildeisms/pseuds/wildeisms
Summary: Klaus’s body shook as Dave’s spirit entered him, pushing his own soul into the metaphorical backseat, his body no longer entirely his own. It was an odd feeling, but not a bad one. He had been ready for the intrusion, to be an observer through his own eyes. If he prepared, if he relaxed, if he trusted enough, the intimacy of it was actually kind of enjoyable. It was strange, the similarities between possession and penetration.“Wow,” Dave murmured, but it was Klaus’s voice that came out.Dave possesses Klaus. It turns out possession isn't so bad, under the right circumstances.
Relationships: Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz
Comments: 12
Kudos: 66
Collections: Hosted by Elliott's House: The Great Year End Fuck 2020 TUA Fandom Bang!





	Let Me Be Yours

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the TUAFandomBang2020! My prompt words were 'exploration' and 'shower', so what better than Klaus and Dave exploring Klaus's powers with some possession and shower sex/masturbation?
> 
> I also want to drop in the fact that [katplanet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/katplanet) has also written one chapter of a [possession fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27783094/chapters/68013850), which they posted while I was still writing this one. This isn't super similar - katplanet is a) much funnier than me, b) also writing Ben/Dave as well as Klaus/Dave, and c) more focused on the possessor POV and also the gender-related feelings involved - but I do just want to flag that I read it while in the process of writing this, so think of this note as a 'better safe than sorry' citation in case of subconscious inspiration. Also go read their fic (after this one!)

Klaus would be the first to admit that nothing about his life was even close to normal, and his love life was no exception. 

As much as ‘I’m sleeping with the ghost of a Vietnam war vet’ sounded like a trashy segment on The Jerry Springer Show, it was easily the best relationship Klaus had ever had. Dave was perfect, they were in love, and his touch felt real, even when Klaus wasn’t making him visible to anyone else. That was all that mattered.

And if the sex was  _ amazing _ , well, that was just an added bonus. 

Klaus was pretty sure he deserved a doctorate at this point for his in depth studies into the paranormal, scientifically proving that - for instance - yes, ghosts can jizz in your mouth, and yes, it tastes the same as it would from a living person. It was groundbreaking research, in all honesty. But perhaps he still needed to run a few more trials, just to make sure. Rigorous tests were important, right? And they had all the time in the world for that.

Their initial explorations had been based entirely on the limits of a ghost body, of how much Klaus could manifest. It turned out that a mixture of sobriety, meditation and therapy was a powerful thing, and with Klaus on top form, there was very little Dave couldn’t do. He could even eat and drink, if Klaus focused enough on making him corporeal. The mechanics of that remained a mystery, particularly when it came to where the food went, but Klaus didn’t question it too much. It wasn’t as if any of this made much sense.

But Klaus was itching to explore something else, something he hadn’t explored at all in his newly stable state. 

They were enjoying a lazy afternoon on the couch when Klaus first broached the subject.

“How would you feel about possessing me?” he asked abruptly, looking up at Dave from his position curled into his side.

“How would I…  _ What _ ?”

Okay, so perhaps some build-up might have helped there. “I’ve been thinking, it could be fun. I mean, I love having you inside me-” Klaus grinned wickedly as Dave rolled his eyes and shook his head fondly, “-and I kinda really like doing this whole ‘discovering how I can use my powers’ thing with you. It’s weirdly way more fun when the penalty for failure is just not getting to have an orgasm instead of hours of torture. Which weirdly enough also involved no orgasms, but I’m pretty sure that part was unrelated.”

Dave snorted. “Sorry, I really shouldn’t laugh at that-”

“No, please do. My whole silver lining here is that years of intense trauma made me incredibly funny, and also incredibly sexy. Even my therapist thinks so.”

“I’m gonna guess what she actually said was that you use humour and sex as coping mechanisms?” Dave said, his eyebrows raised. 

“See, you say that, but I’m pretty sure that’s therapist talk for ‘Klaus, you’re so funny and sexy’.”

“You’re a goddamn idiot is what you are.”

“And that’s Dave Katz talk for ‘Klaus, you’re so funny and sexy’!”

Dave laughed and pulled Klaus in for a brief kiss. “Yeah, it is.” 

Klaus laughed triumphantly and settled back into his position leaning against his lover. “So, possession?”

“Your most common criminal charge?”

“Oh, ouch!” Klaus pulled an exaggerated face as if Dave’s words had physically stung him before dissolving into a giggle. As much as Dave put on a front of being an innocent, all-American sweetheart, he was capable of being every bit as much a snarky bitch as Klaus could be, and Klaus loved it. “I’ll have you know I’m totally reformed, and misdemeanour theft was actually my most common one. It goes theft, possession, prostitution, tax evasion,” he said as he counted them off on his fingers. Although in his defence when it came to the final one, he had never been taught how to do taxes and had forgotten that they were even a thing. “But seriously. Possession: dice or no dice?”

“I don’t know… I thought it was awful for you, being possessed.”

“Not if I want it.” Okay, so he didn’t know that for sure, but he did know that he could always kick Dave out if he started to hate it too much. As long as Dave didn’t resist being ejected, he should be okay. But hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that. “It’s like… you know how I like getting choked? Getting choked by some random guy attacking me would suck-” (although it might still give him - and on more than one occasion had still given him - a boner, but that was one of his more fucked up traits and he didn’t need to worry Dave any more than necessary) “-but a little consensual choking from someone I trust is a lot of fun for me.”

“So you think you’ll enjoy being possessed if it’s me and it’s consensual?”

Klaus shrugged. “Maybe? I wanna try it, but only if you do too. If it’s too weird-”

“Babydoll, I’m dead and I’m spending my afterlife having kinky gay sex with my boyfriend, a time-travelling medium and ex-child superhero. I’m in the future, I have a computer that fits in my hand and my brother-in-law has been to  _ space _ . Literally everything is so goddamn weird, all the time.” Klaus laughed softly. He had to admit, Dave had a point. “And you know what,” he continued, “I wouldn’t change a fucking thing. Except maybe the dead part, but only if I got to keep everything else exactly the same. I’d rather be dead and with you than alive and without.”

“You sap,” Klaus teased, but his heart swelled all the same. 

“Oh, always,” Dave promised, pressing a kiss to Klaus’s temple. “But to answer your question, it’s not that it’s too weird. I just don’t wanna do anything you won’t like.”

“If I don’t like it, we can always stop.” And that in itself was a sign that he was more stable and more comfortable than he’d ever been before. He didn’t have to take it if he didn’t want to. No matter what they did together, there was never a sense of obligation or fear of the consequences if he ever wanted to say no. “And you know if  _ you  _ don’t like it, we can stop.”

“Can you definitely tell me you don’t like it if I’m possessing you?”

“Oh, yeah. Even before, with Ben, I could kinda… push?” It was hard to describe the way it had felt, trying to bring his own consciousness back to the driver’s seat and feeling Ben’s resisting him. That battle had been the most painful part of it. That space inside him just wasn’t big enough for two people’s simultaneous attempts to fill it. No wonder it had left him feeling as though his head was breaking apart, even after he had forcibly ejected his brother from his body.

“That’s good. Just… if we do this, you push if you even feel slightly off, okay?” he said, the type of firm but loving tone in his voice that you might associate with a parent, if you had a decent one. Klaus certainly didn’t, but he’d seen enough movies to recognise it anyway.

Dave had always been a protector, a caregiver. It didn’t seem like the afterlife had changed that in any way, beyond a few limitations inherent to ghostly existence. But they’d always dealt with limitations in some form or another. “Okay,” he agreed.

“And if we do this… Is this gonna be like most of our other ‘experiments’?” 

“Do you mean ‘is this gonna be crazy kinky?’?” Klaus asked with a mischievous grin.

“Pretty much.”

“I mean, having you inside me is always hot. And you know how I feel about letting you be in control.” It had taken plenty of reassurances and time to warm Dave up to the idea that he actively enjoyed a certain amount of submission and masochism, but he’d come to understand and accept it. He could give Klaus that freedom and safety and avalanche of sensations, even if he didn't have any interest in trying it for himself. “And I kinda wanna know how it  _ feels  _ when I’m in the backseat, you know?”

“Klaus Hargreeves, are you asking me to jerk off while I’m possessing you?”

“I mean, I never specified that, but if that’s where your mind’s going…” he teased, as if he hadn’t been thinking the same thing. “Absolutely yes. How do you wanna do it?”

“In the shower?” Dave suggested. “I don’t- I haven’t had a proper shower in a long time. It could be nice.”

“You wanna jerk off in the shower like some kinda desperate, horny teenager?”

“You jerk off in the bathtub, and that’s worse. At least in the shower it goes down the drain right away.”

“First of all, you’ve jerked me off in the bathtub multiple times, and you weren’t complaining then. Second of all, you’re lying there all warm and naked and relaxed, it’s the perfect time to rub one out. Third, I had another point, but I forget what it was.” It would come to him eventually, but for the time being, that thought was as good as non-existent. He was fairly sure it had been a good point, though.

Dave laughed. “Sure it was, doll. And you’re right, but there’s nothing wrong with touching yourself in the shower. It’s probably better than shower sex, honestly. I feel like that always sounds better in theory than it is when you actually try it, you know?”

“Oh, for sure. Did I tell you about the time I had to go to the ER ‘cause of shower sex?”

“You… You know what, I’m not even surprised anymore,” Dave said with a shake of his head. Which was fair, but he didn’t have to say it. “What happened?”

“So I was high-”

“You’re high in all your old sex stories, you don’t have to specify that.” 

“Not true, sometimes I’m just drunk!” Klaus said with faux indignance. “And don’t interrupt.  _ Anyway _ , I was high, and this guy I was with thought it would be super hot to bang in the shower. But I did  _ not  _ have the balance to be taking it up the ass while standing up, and he had one of those bath/shower combos and you know how slippy a wet tub can get. So I fall and I hit my head on the bath tap, and Christ on a cracker, it  _ hurt _ , but I don’t even realise what’s going on until he starts freaking out about blood. He goes and gets his freaking roommate because he apparently can’t deal with that and I’m just there like ‘huh, so this is happening I guess’. We’re both butt-ass naked and she comes in and is, like,  _ on it,  _ and is all ‘this bitch needs a doctor’. She gets me a towel to try and stop the bleeding but I am way too out of it to get my tight-ass pants back on, and I can’t even find my shirt so she just has me put on one of this dude’s hoodies and a pair of her sweatpants, because I cannot just leave with my whole dick out.” Dave snorted a laugh, but Klaus continued. “So, thank God she’s sober, she drives me to the ER, drops me off, and I end up getting stitches and they give me some painkillers. Not the real good shit, but hey, Dad never took me off his insurance so he was paying for them and I wasn’t gonna complain about that. But this dude didn’t even come with! Pretty sure if your one night stand needs stitches ‘cause of you, you should at least keep them company. I mean, I did steal his hoodie and later fuck his roommate, but he didn’t  _ know  _ I was gonna do that.”

Dave shook his head. “Baby, if I ever cracked your head open by fucking you in the shower, I would take you to the ER and stay with you the whole time,” he promised, his voice filled with an only slightly mocking sincerity.

“You’re such a dork,” Klaus said. They both know he meant ‘I adore you’.

“Yeah, I know. But I’m  _ your _ dork.”

“This is exactly what I’m talking about,” Klaus said as he pulled Dave in for a kiss in a mess of lips and limbs and giggles, falling back into the couch together. He wondered if he could simply let Dave sink into him, to somehow open himself up and have Dave just… drop, to fall into him and take residence in his body in the physical sense as well as the abstract way he had long ago become a permanent resident of Klaus’s heart. But he was fairly sure possession was conscious, at least on Dave’s part. And besides, he liked the feeling of being underneath Dave. Whether it was as a calming presence or one that made his heart rate pick up and his dick hard, having Dave on top of him was one of his favourite things. “I love you,” he sighed, completely contented. 

“Love you too, baby.” Dave stroked Klaus’s hair gently as he looked down into Klaus’s eyes with all that tenderness and affection that made Klaus’s heart melt. And if there was a slight erotic undertone to having Dave on top of him, to being pinned down by him? That was just an added bonus. “You know I can’t resist you looking at me like that…” Dave said, a mixture of affection and hunger behind his eyes.

“Who says you need to resist me?” Klaus teased, smirking up at Dave with the kind of confidence that actually felt  _ real _ . Sure, he was an excellent actor and frankly deserved an Oscar for his performances of ego, but he didn’t need to pretend he felt desirable to Dave. He  _ was  _ desirable (although whether that desirability would last was still up in the air, the insecure and scared part of him made sure of that).

“ _ I can resist everything except temptation _ ,” Dave retorted. He nipped at Klaus’s lower lip and grinned, a self-satisfied glint in his eye. 

“And am I temptation, then?”

“Absolutely.”

Well, Klaus was just fine with that. He’d always liked the kind of games that let him play at being irresistible, the kind of person his partners’ simply had to  _ take _ . But was it ‘taking’ if he was giving himself so willingly? Regardless, it was still a game, and it was his play. “ _ The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it _ ,” he said. 

“Oh, but what if I don’t want to get rid of you?”

“Then I suppose you make me yield to you?”

And that was Dave’s speciality. Even when he played the brat, Klaus would always yield to Dave in the end, and they both knew it.

He leant up into Dave’s body, into his renewed kiss, welcoming Dave’s tongue into his mouth until he was breathless, warmed by love and desire and body heat that technically shouldn’t exist. 

“Do you wanna try possession tonight? Or do you wanna just have some fun?” Dave asked in that low, sexy voice that had always done unspeakable things for Klaus. 

“Mm… You decide,” Klaus said. He would be happy with either. He would be happy with anything that meant Dave could be inside him, in whatever sense. 

Dave scrunched his nose up - as if that didn’t make him look ridiculously cute and yet also strangely sexy - as he thought. “I feel like we should do it while the conversation is still fresh, you know?”

That did make sense. “Okay,” Klaus agreed. Dave sat back on his heels and let Klaus climb out from underneath him. 

He extricated himself from his position on the sofa and stood up, the slight apprehension gnawing at the edges of his mind as the act became much more than a hypothetical. But it would be fine. He’d been possessed before, he knew what this was like, and it was  _ Dave _ . Dave would treat his body right. He always did, even when Klaus wanted it rough.  _ Especially  _ when Klaus wanted it rough. Before Dave, Klaus hadn’t known being whipped and choked could still leave him feeling as though he’d been worshipped. 

“Are you sure you wanna do this?” Dave asked, his voice soft and his hand on Klaus’s cheek as he stood in front of him. “We can just have sex like normal, if you’re having any doubts.” This, too, was very Dave. The ‘can I?’s, the ‘do you want?’s, and the ‘is that good?’s were a staple of their intimacy. And though it had been an adjustment for Klaus, with all his experience of even the nicest and most well-meaning partners assuming they could do anything they pleased in the absence of a ‘no’ or a ‘stop’, it was a welcome one. Dave was a gentleman, even with his hands around Klaus’s throat and his dick in his ass. 

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Klaus agreed with a determined nod, shaking the tension out through his arms and bouncing on the balls of his feet as he prepared himself. “I wanna do this.”

Dave seemed to steel himself, eyes closed and a low exhale of breath he didn’t technically need passing between his lips, before stepping forwards.

Klaus’s body shook as Dave’s spirit entered him, pushing his own soul into the metaphorical backseat, his body no longer entirely his own. It was an odd feeling, but not a bad one. He had been ready for the intrusion, to be an observer through his own eyes. If he prepared, if he relaxed, if he trusted enough, the intimacy of it was actually kind of enjoyable. It was strange, the similarities between possession and penetration.

“Wow,” Dave murmured, but it was Klaus’s voice that came out. 

If he could have, Klaus would have smiled. But he didn’t need or want to fight for control. He was happy to let Dave take it, to submit entirely. Except this time, he didn’t feel that force he had expected to guide him into submission. He was present, but not yet overpowering.

“I’ll be gentle,” Dave promised. But he didn’t have to be. Klaus’s body could take a pounding and Dave knew that almost as well as he did. There was no way he could treat his body in a way that Klaus couldn’t take. If Dave would test his limits more often, he certainly wouldn’t be opposed.

_ I don’t want it to hurt. This is already new without making it any more complicated.  _

Oh. That wasn’t his thought. 

“Oh my god, that’s… I can  _ feel _ you.”

He could feel Dave too, a weird swirling of emotions that weren’t his own, pulling him out of the corner he’d intended to stuff his consciousness into in an attempt to make room for his lover. Those nerves, that cautiousness, that wasn’t him. But he felt them anyway. More than any of that, though, he felt  _ love _ . 

He’d known Dave loved him. But knowing and feeling were not the same, and feeling it for himself was almost too much. It was real. Dave loved him just as much as he loved Dave. 

“Baby…” Dave-in-Klaus’s-body wrapped his arms around himself - themselves? - in a strange embrace.

It was so weird. But he didn’t want to stop. 

He wasn’t sure whether that was his thought or Dave’s, but it didn’t matter. This wasn’t like when Ben had surprised him, with two trying to take up the space that could only take one. It wasn’t like when he’d given Ben permission either, when he’d tried to make himself as small as possible, to tuck himself away and let Ben take over. Dave’s mind, soul, spirit, whatever it was, it didn’t push his aside. It wasn’t just his body he was sharing. It was his  _ everything _ . And it was reciprocated; every thought, every emotion, every part of Dave, Klaus could feel it all. Every second seemed to draw them more intimately together, a gradient of Klaus to Dave, a complex waltz of consciousnesses in which he let Dave lead, let him take control of the physical, but in which the boundaries between the two of them were no longer quite so clearly cut. It was like they were something entirely new, not two people but not one person either. It was like they were an embodiment of pure love and desire.

It was  _ wonderful _ . 

They slipped their hand up their shirt, touching their chest. Warm skin, a beating heart. Very sensitive nipples that hardened with just a few brushes of their fingertips. That part was unmistakably Klaus, but the appreciation for that particular touch could have come from either of them. It likely came from both of them. And they both wanted  _ more _ .

They slowly slipped Klaus’s shirt off, Dave marvelling at the sensations of a physical body. He had been able to feel Klaus as if he were still alive, but the rest of the physical world? Even with Klaus’s power working at full capacity, it was muted, not fully tangible in his usual semi-corporeal state. The memory of those feelings and the contrasting intensity of the world through Klaus’s body was astounding. It was almost a form of sensation play in its own right. 

Even just imagining the shower water, hot and firm against their body, turned them on. Their attention pooled down in their groin, stirrings of interest making themselves known. Their hand slipped down their torso to the front of their pants, stroking over their skin more gently than either of them would usually do for themselves. They were in a strange middle ground between masturbation and sex, touching themselves and each other in equal measure. Klaus was fairly sure it was Dave piloting, but he couldn’t be certain that he had no influence. He wanted this too.

Klaus’s pants were far too tight to come off easily. Not that Dave minded, of course - and in fact, he was mildly surprised that something so incredibly form-fitting could also so comfortable as well as so sexy - but having to roll his own pants off rather than just undoing a belt and giving them a little push to make them fall was a new experience. But he had removed those skin-tight pants from Klaus’s body enough times for it to be almost second-nature. Familiar and unfamiliar. Klaus and Dave. Neither were quite so mutually exclusive.

Discarding their clothes on the floor, Klaus’s too-long limbs managed to get them to the bathroom unscathed, even with the novelty of Dave controlling them, of him having to adjust to not just having a body again, but an entirely new body. Klaus was somehow lighter than he was used to, muscles accustomed to a fluidity of movement that Dave had simply never embodied in either his physical or ghostly form. It was like going to pick up a drink only to find that what you thought was glass was actually plastic. Not  _ wrong _ , but jarringly different. Klaus could appreciate that imagery, having spilled more than one drink on himself thanks to the anticipation of a heavier glass. And, alright, a complete lack of coordination independent of glass weight, often but not always related to whatever he had consumed prior. Of course Dave was calling him out on his bullshit, even in their shared metaphors.

The shower water was cold, but instead of stepping back to wait for it to heat up like a normal person, Dave stepped into it and let the water hit their bare skin in a shock of sensation, letting the water soak them. They tilted their head back, their hair already dripping wet, curls turned straight by the water. Dave had never had long hair, and though he had liked Klaus’s hair long ever since he’d first seen it, it was a strange sensation to feel it sticking to their neck. As the water warmed up around them, they slipped a hand down over their body, shamelessly groping. As they moved one hand downwards, they brought the other up to play with a nipple, sensitive and hardened, a surge of arousal travelling directly down to their cock. They opened their mouth in a soft gasp as they started to stroke, need and desire swirling together in the pit of their stomach. 

“Mm… Oh, yeah, oh, that’s so good,” they moaned breathily, their cock growing harder in their hand and their arousal pooling low within them. It was odd for Klaus, feeling turned on by his own voice, even if the arousal was  _ theirs _ , not strictly  _ his _ . But regardless, Klaus was going to have to be a little more vocal if Dave liked hearing his voice that much. He could tell Dave liked that idea. A smile tugged at their lips, a mix of amusement and affection and  _ fuck, yes please _ . “Oh, I love you…” they said, and Klaus wasn’t sure who had come up with the thought first, or who had decided to vocalise it. It didn’t matter. It was true either way.

Their forehead came to rest against the wall, against the cool, solidly immovable tiles, an interesting contrast with the hot and insistent water hitting their back, with the hot and insistent pleasure that burned inside them, their breath hitching and shaking as they let the sensations take them. It was bliss. Their soft gasps and hums were no longer an affectation or performance - they were simply a natural, unrestrained reaction. As much as Klaus was a performer by nature, there was so much joy to be found in feeling instead of thinking, in not trying to push any thought or action forward. As much as he was present within his own body, it was much closer to Dave touching him while he was along for the ride. The movement of their hands were by no means automatic, but were not exactly conscious either. That third entity, the dual souled hybrid that existed in the space not so much between them as  _ across  _ them, seemed to function on a level neither of them could fully access. ‘ _ For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you _ .’ Not just ‘as good’, in their case. Whoever had first remembered those words - though when thoughts appeared from unknown sources, such distinctions seemed ultimately immaterial - knew as much. No poet or artist could ever have imagined this level of intimacy, of connection, of unity. 

Before long, they could feel an orgasm starting to build, beginning in the slight shake of their legs and slowly rising up. They could make it last, if they wanted. But neither of them wanted to fight where their shared body took them. 

They curled their toes and moaned shamelessly. One hand on the wall, the other still stroking their cock, their hips rocking in restrained thrusts, the tension building and building, breaths coming in low gasps, their eyes falling shut, they gave in to physical sensations alone. Rising pleasure. Hot, hammering water. Cool tiles. Skin on skin. Humid air. Water and sweat dripping down their body. The fullness of existing as two minds and one simultaneously.  _ ‘Let me not to the marriage of true minds / admit impediments. Love is not love / that alters when it alteration finds’ _ . Dear old Will was right. He hadn’t been thinking of this when he wrote that, Klaus was sure of it, but there was something to it all the same.

Neither of them could say who laughed first, but it seemed laughing during sex was not restricted to the type of sex with two physical bodies. Nor did they know who first felt the rush of intensified love, unfaltering and  _ unaltering _ , that they shared without a shadow of a doubt. But there they stood, floating in a sea of sensation and emotion, breathless in the best possible way, the ‘oh’s and ‘mm’s soon spilling from their parted lips in place of laughter.

The cocktail of joy and love and pure sexual stimulation took them over the edge. They moaned as their orgasm took their body, a rolling release in crashing waves that had them gasping for air. But far from drowning in it, it was as if they were parched and this was their only relief. Perhaps it was the double intensity of double consciousness, but it felt like so much more than an orgasm one might expect from a regular round of masturbation. 

The warm satisfaction of post-orgasmic bliss was almost enough to distract them from the fact that the hot water was running cold. If it hadn’t been for the cooling water, they could have stayed in that shower forever. But as it was, they stepped out and wrapped themself in their fluffiest towel. 

_ What about your hair thing? _

Dave might not have had the first idea of how to twist up Klaus’s hair turban, but the fact he even thought about it filled Klaus’s heart with affection. With the turban in place, they stepped out of the bathroom in a cloud of nearly dissipated steam. 

With the afterglow starting to wane, they shivered as the cool air touched their bare skin. Being wrapped in a blanket, warm and safe in each others’ arms, sounded perfect. Would an embrace be better than a shared body when it came to physical comfort and warmth? They weren’t totally sure. But the physical touch was one thing they couldn’t quite share, not in the same way at least, when they were inhabiting the same form. And of course, there would be other opportunities for exploring the potentials of possession. 

_ Quit while we’re ahead and go cuddle? _

That seemed like a good idea. Even with this particular round of possession being infinitely more enjoyable than any other, there was a chance Klaus would still end up physically and mentally worn out without Dave holding him up. But he could have Dave holding him in another way. He could lie in Dave’s arms in their shared bed, that little oasis they’d created for themselves. 

Klaus whined at the cold sensation of Dave leaving him, at the rush of overwhelming emotions as his mind sought to fill up the space Dave had left. His head was splitting, he was as exhausted and sore as if he had just run for miles, but as much as it hurt, it was a good hurt. Even the tears pricking his eyes were a good kind of tears. And when he looked at Dave, his lover was tearing up too.

They were holding each other within moments, towels discarded. It was a different kind of coming together, a different kind of connectedness. But Klaus could feel the solid warmth that he’d once thought a ghostly body couldn’t have, and it was enough of a comfort to keep him from breaking down. There was a lot to hate about his powers, but the ability to feel Dave as if he was still alive was a gift. 

“I love you so much,” Dave said shakily. He eased them both back onto their bed, keeping Klaus close. It almost wasn’t close enough, knowing how much more intimate they could be. But the physical comfort of being held was more than enough to make up for it. 

“I love you too,” Klaus said, and for some reason, that was the tipping point. His voice cracked, his lip wobbling, the trembling tears of ‘too much’ starting to overflow. Dave was still holding him, he was safe, and he’d enjoyed it. Even if his head hurt, even if he was tired and aching, the crying felt like an overreaction. But Dave didn’t scorn him or push him away. He kept holding on, let Klaus keep himself tucked into his embrace. His hand found Klaus’s still damp hair and started to run his fingers through it, just the way Klaus liked. 

“I got you, baby. I got you,” he soothed. And as much as Klaus was a mess, that simple fact was what was keeping him together. Dave had him. Dave always had him. “Did I do something wrong?”

Klaus shook his head, his eyes closed, breathing slowly in and out in an attempt to soothe himself, silent tears escaping down his cheeks.

“Are you overwhelmed?”

He nodded. “Yeah,” he said thickly. The pain didn’t go away, but he could manage it. He was safe in Dave’s arms. He could handle this. He could stop crying. He just had to breathe. 

Klaus supposed it made sense that it would hurt; he was stretched out and trying to find his original shape. It had been intense, a rush of shared endorphins, and now he had to come down. He’d never been good at handling that. But whether it was from drugs or from sex or even from panicked adrenaline, Dave had never abandoned him while he came staggering back to his equilibrium. Before, Klaus might have feared the other shoe dropping, the final straw finally causing him to snap. But he’d felt Dave’s love for him, really felt it, and he could cling on in the knowledge that he truly didn’t want to go anywhere. Dave stayed because he wanted to, despite all the reasons Klaus gave him not to. Somehow, he truly, unquestionably wanted to stay. That, too, felt a little more overwhelming than it should have. It was incredible, but it was just… so much. Everything was so much. He was too full and yet not full enough. 

He only realised he had drifted into his thoughts when he felt Dave’s lips against his forehead. “Klaus, baby? Where’re you at?”

He didn’t know how best to answer that. It wasn’t quite like his normal come-downs from anything kinky, the crash of endorphins that came after a particularly intense session. Nor was it like any come-downs from a night of partying or from just trying to numb the pain. But it wasn’t  _ unlike _ those either. Same but different. He wanted Dave back inside him. Maybe he could make sense of it all if he had a better mind. But something in him resisted even the idea, begging for a chance to rest, to have a break from that fullness and intensity. “Somewhere new,” he said eventually. Ordinarily he talked and talked, but somehow, words seemed like an incredible challenge in that moment. He wanted Dave back inside him to feel his thoughts instead. He couldn’t take having Dave back inside him. Not when he was so exhausted, so sore, so drained.

He pushed himself into Dave’s arms, as if he could transfer every thought and feeling he couldn’t articulate if he squeezed tight enough and curled close enough.

“Is it a bad place?”

“No.” Could any place really be bad with Dave holding him? Even a war zone had felt like bliss when they managed to steal some time together. “It’s just… different. Possession takes it outta me, you know? It’s like I got all this extra space in my head where you stretched it out and now everything’s tryna fill it, and that’s kind of a  _ lot _ .” Whether that made sense or not, he didn’t know. But Dave kissed his forehead again and rubbed his back, and that certainly helped.

“If it’s too much, we don’t have to do it again.”

“No. I liked it, I just need…” He didn’t know exactly what he needed. “Maybe I just need to prep more next time?” Maybe it would be better if he knew to expect this, if he wasn’t caught off-guard. Now he knew how it all felt, maybe he could manage to avoid a crash. 

“You want there to be a next time, then?”

“If you do too, then yeah. But you looked kinda weepy for a sec, so if you don’t-”

“Don’t you worry about that, I’m all good. It’s just that you’re… well, I think you’re my Oz,” Dave said with a soft, almost shy smile.

“Your Oz?” Klaus repeated.

“Yeah. You know, in The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy’s life is all black and white, then she goes to Oz and it’s all technicolor?”

Klaus hummed his agreement, although he had never actually got round to seeing that movie. 

“Well, I thought just knowing you was Oz. But possessing you is just, it’s a whole ‘nother level. And now I’m back in black and white, and it’s not  _ bad _ , because too much technicolor’d make my eyes hurt, you know? But it’s still kinda a shock to the system. Does that make any sense?”

Either it did, or they were both as mad as each other. Klaus neither knew nor cared which it was. It was romantic, whether anyone else thought so or not. He was Dave’s Oz. “Yeah. That makes sense. Just lemme know if you ever wanna go back to technicolor for a while, even without the whole sexy part.”

“If you’re offering, I’m pretty sure I’ll take you up on that sometime.”

“Mm… It felt good, right?” As if ‘good’ was anywhere near enough to describe what they’d just experienced. But they both knew it meant so much more than that simple word would usually convey.

“So good,” Dave agreed, and Klaus smiled. He had known what Dave had been thinking and feeling, but the confirmation was still nice. Being held and loved was nice, too. “How’re you feeling?”

“I’m okay. I mean, I’m tired and my head hurts, but still okay?” He’d had hangovers worse than this, although that wasn’t saying much. He’d had hangovers so bad it felt like he was dying. Ben had always been very unsympathetic to those particular complaints. 

Dave was much more sympathetic. He made a soft, pitying sound and kissed Klaus on the forehead. He let go of him for a moment and Klaus whined, but soon Dave was guiding him to sit up. “There’s water on your nightstand. Can you drink for me, baby?” he asked softly. Klaus nodded and grabbed his water bottle, then drank until it was empty. His cheeks were still slightly damp, but he dried them on the comforter as he laid back down, slotting back into the home he’d made in Dave’s arms. He was exhausted. It would be so nice to just pass out there, with those strong, safe arms around him.

“Good little kitten…” Dave purred, and Klaus smiled sleepily. 

“Like that,” he mumbled. Even on days where ‘good boy’ would have felt comfortable enough, being Dave’s ‘good little kitten’ was special. He had been ‘good boy’ - or ‘good whore’ or ‘good slut’ - for other people. But he had only ever been and would only ever be Dave Katz’s kitten. 

“I know you do, baby,” Dave said as he brushed Klaus’s still damp hair away from his face. Klaus liked that too.

If he hadn’t been so worn out, he’d have insisted on drying it and setting it properly, having discovered he could achieve some pretty fantastic curls if he did his hair just right. But it didn’t matter. He’d rather have a frizzy or misshapen mess on his head than leave the comfort of his bed and his lover’s arms.

“You deserve love, you deserve happiness, and you deserve safety. You’re worth the whole damn world and I’m so lucky to get to be with you.” Dave’s voice was soft and soothing, taking on that wonderful melodic depth that sounded just like how a hug felt. The affirmations were really more for Dave’s benefit than Klaus’s - he would have been content with just the physical touch, particularly when serious verbalised affection was something that didn’t quite come easily to him, but it was Dave’s aftercare too. And Dave needed the reassurance that Klaus would never doubt his love and tenderness, no matter what kind of rough or kinky sex they’d just engaged in. 

It had been a surprise, the first time. Even with past partners who had known enough and cared enough to offer any sort of aftercare, it had usually been restricted to fetching him a glass of water and some cream for any bruising, and letting him stay in bed for a while instead of kicking him out right away. Sometimes, he got a cuddle. Mostly, they made him feel like a chore. Klaus was used to aftercare being approached like doing the dishes after a home cooked meal - an unfortunate necessity from which little pleasure could be obtained, a byproduct of something much more pleasurable. But Dave made it the dessert - a sweet ending, enjoyable in its own right. He hugged and talked and  _ cared _ . He made Klaus feel like he might just be worth something.

And for Klaus’s part, he was more than happy to indulge and reassure in his own way too. “You’re so good to me. I love you and I love everything we do together,” he murmured, exhaustion and affection coating his voice. 

Nothing about his life was normal, but so much about it was perfect. 

**Author's Note:**

> I really enjoyed taking part in this, being forced to work to a prompt and deadline! Hopefully you all enjoyed it - I admit I don't usually write ghost Dave, but I did have fun with it!
> 
> If you can name all of the queer authors I quoted without Googling it, respect. If you can also name the texts each quote is lifted from without Google, you are exactly as much of a pretentious nerd as I am, if not more. I'm not going to congratulate you on that.


End file.
